So our Mass goes back, without essential change, to the age when it first developed out of the oldest liturgy of all. It is still redolent of that liturgy, of the days when Cæsar ruled the world and thought he could stamp out the faith of Christ, when our fathers met together before dawn and sang a hymn to Christ as to a God. The final result of our enquiry is that, in spite of unsolved problems, in spite of later changes, there is not in Christendom another rite so venerable as ours. ~Fortescue

Thursday, May 31, 2007

From the earliest ages of the Catholic Church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as She is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen.~Pope Pius XII

But the Blessed Virgin Mary should be called Queen, not only because of Her Divine Motherhood, but also because God has willed Her to have an exceptional role in the work of our eternal salvation. ~Pope Pius XII

*

Finally, art which is based upon Christian principles and is animated by their spirit as something faithfully interpreting the sincere and freely expressed devotion of the faithful, has since the Council of Ephesus portrayed Mary as Queen and Empress seated upon a royal throne adorned with royal insignia, crowned with the royal diadem and surrounded by the host of Angels and Saints in Heaven, and ruling not only over nature and its powers but also over the machinations of Satan. ~ Pope Pius XII

Monday, May 14, 2007

Those who abstain from praying before eating dishonor the entire human race. They dishonor the human race because they resemble the beasts. Up to today, in nature it is known of only one species of beings that does not pray before eating. Everyday we know of two: the beasts, and those who resemble them. I say to those (men) who resemble them: Between a dog and a man who eats without praying, what is the difference? I do not see any! And the Academics of Science do not see any more than I do. For them, the first one is a bipede and the second is a quadrupede, but both are beasts nonetheless. Bipede or quadrupede, seated or stretched on the ground, singing, chatting or roaring, with hands or with claws, with eyes, heart and teeth immersed in matter, devouring savagely their nourishment, without raising their heads towards the hand that gives it to them. The man who acts thus puts himself outside his own (human) species. He who eats like a beast remains a beast.

Praying over our food is as old as the world, so extended as the human race. The Jews did it according to the Law of Moses, “Blessed be the Lord Our God Who has created the fruit of the vine.” “Praised and blessed be Our God Who has extracted bread from the earth.” All these rites are more venerable when we consider the fact that our Lord Himself did this. What does the adorable Master of the human race do at the Last Supper? What does He do after Supper is ended? He sings with His disciples hymns of Thanksgiving! In many other instances we see Our Eternal Model, Jesus Christ, praying before receiving or giving food (When He feeds the 5 thousand people). The Incarnate Word has done this to teach us, according to the Church Fathers, to not eat without blessing and giving thanks. In addition, the Apostles and the first Christians did the same in imitation of the God-Man, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Tertullian: “Eating begins and ends with prayer.” Similar quotations could be cited from both the Latin and the Greek Church Fathers. “O Thou Who give nourishment to all that breathes, deign to bless the gifts that we are about to receive…” Even Protestants, despite their attacks on the Church, have preserved similar traditions and prayers. But something that will seem much stranger is that the blessing before eating was practiced even by the pagans. Yes, my friend, the Greeks and the Romans religiously practiced that which many of your friends now are ashamed of. “The ancients,” says Atheneus, “did not ever take any food without having first appeased the gods (through prayer).” He also says of the Egyptians, “After having seated at the table, they stood up, then knelt and the head of the family or a priest began the traditional prayers.”

Those ancient masters of the world did not touch their food without first having it consecrated to the divinity. Even the barbarians imitated the civilized in this practice! So, you see my friend, that to bless our food is a law of the human race. To be ashamed of saying graces before meals, as your peers are, great speakers of freedom and independence that they are, makes them slaves, and slaves of the vilest tyrant:HUMAN RESPECT! Poor creatures! Who, to mask their slavery, end their objections by saying: The Sign of the Cross is a useless practice… and an old-fashioned one. It is my duty, then, to take off the mask with which your friends (or enemies) try to hide themselves.

Three tyrants dispute the freedom of man, mine, yours, and even that of your companions. These tyrants are: the world, the flesh, and the devil. These three tyrants claim a right and power over us that they do not have, and want to make us slaves. They try to keep us from making the Sign of the Cross. We would be so weak and stupid, were we to submit ourselves to them. If we did, we would be committing the sin of greatest ingratitude!!!

That we may understand how horrible and detestable is this sin, which the demons make us commit, but which they do not commit themselves, we must consider what a Christian is. A Christian, created in the image of God, redeemed by the Blood of a God! A Christian, the child of God, the brother of a God, the heir of a God! A Christian, whose body is the temple of the Holy Ghost; that is what sin dishonours. We are created to reign one day in Heaven, and if we have the misfortune to commit this sin, we become the den of the devils. Our Lord said that nothing impure should enter into His kingdom. Indeed, how could a soul that has rolled itself in this filth go to appear before so pure and so holy a God?

We are all like little mirrors, in which God contemplates Himself. How can you expect that God should recognize His likeness in an impure soul? There are some souls so dead, so rotten, that they lie in their defilement without perceiving it, and can no longer clear themselves from it; everything leads them to evil, everything reminds them of evil, even the most holy things; they always have these abominations before their eyes; like the unclean animal that is accustomed to live in filth, that is happy in it, that rolls itself and goes to sleep in it, that grunts in the mud; these persons are an object of horror in the eyes of God and of the holy angels. See, my children, Our Lord was crowned with thorns to expiate our sins of pride; but for this accursed sin, He was scourged and torn to pieces, since He said Himself that after his flagellation all His bones might be counted.

O my children, if there were not some pure souls here and there, to make amends to the good God, and disarm His justice, you would see how we should be punished! For now, this crime is so common in the world, that it is enough to make one tremble. One may say, my children, that Hell vomits forth its abominations upon the earth, as the chimneys of the steam engine vomit forth smoke. The devil does all he can to defile our soul, and yet our soul is everything, our body is only a heap of corruption: go to the cemetery to see what you love, when you love your body. As I have often told you, there is nothing so vile as the impure soul. There was once a saint, who had asked the good God to show him one; and he saw that poor soul like a dead beast that has been dragged through the streets in the hot sun for a week.

By only looking at a person, we know if he is pure. His eyes have an air of candour and modesty which leads you to the good God. Some people, on the contrary, look quite inflamed with passion. . . . Satan places himself in their eyes to make others fall and to lead them to evil. Those who have lost their purity are like a piece of cloth stained with oil; you may wash it and dry it, and the stain always appears again: so it requires a miracle to cleanse the impure soul.

Friday, May 11, 2007

By a stroke of luck or by mere chance, any woman can become a mother. Nature has endowed her with the unique “maternal instinct” with the purpose of preserving the human species.

If it were not for that, what she would do when she heard that little, small creature weeping, wrinkled and constantly crying, would be to throw it into the garbage can.

But, thanks to that “maternal instinct,” she looks at it in ecstasy, and finds it precious, and disposes herself to take care of it for free until it turns 21, at least.

To be a mother is to ponder that blowing noses and changing diapers is much nobler than to finish school, to triumph in the business world or to remain thin.

To be a mother is to exercise that vocation without rest, always singing “brush your teeth, go to bed, do your homework, don’t smoke, drink milk.”

To be a mother is to worry about immunization, clean ears, school, offensive language, boyfriends and girlfriends without feeling offended or hurt when your children hush you up or slam the door in your face… just because they do not have anything better to do…

To be a mother is to stay awake waiting until your daughter comes back from a party and, once she gets home, pretend to be asleep so as not to disturb her.

To be a mother is to tremble when your son learns to drive, rides motorcycles, starts to shave, falls in love, takes exams or has a terrible accident.

To be a mother is to sob when you see your children happy and bite your tongue and smile when you see them suffering.

To be a mother is to be a baby-sitter, a chauffer, a cook, a doctor, a policeman, a confessor, a mechanic and do the laundry without getting paid.

To be a mother is to give all your love and your time without expecting to be gratified or thanked.

To be a mother is to say, “It’s normal for their age” when they rebel against you.

Mother is the one who loves us and takes care of us every single day of her life and cries with emotion because we remember her once a year: on Mother’s Day.

The worst defect that mothers have is that they die before we are able to reward them for part of everything of what they have done. They leave us feeling handicapped, guilty and irreversibly orphans.

We are lucky to have only one… because NO ONE would be able to cope with the pain of losing her twice.

I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.

Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow*

I am the Immaculate Conception*

In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph

Who is She that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?

I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion. I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho: As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted. I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon. and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

A seventh reason why we must make the Sign of the Cross is that It is a treasure that enriches our poverty. A beggar is he who everyday goes from door to door to beg his daily bread. Cresus was a beggar, Caesar was a beggar, the Emperors and Kings were all beggars, Empresses and Queens are beggars, crowned beggars if you will, but always beggars. Man’s indigence is present daily, at every hour, at every moment! From this results the great law of the moral world upon which few reflect. I’m talking about the law of prayer. The pagan world had lost a great part of its patrimony of the traditional truths, but it did not lose the knowledge of the law of prayer. The human race, from the first days of its appearance upon the earth, has observed it, although under various forms. The day in which no person, human or angelic, lift itself towards God in prayer, on that day there will cease all rapport between the Creator and the creature, between the rich par excellance and the beggar. The physical world itself has been organized in view of the perpetual observance of the law that Our Lord gave us: that we must pray always. Thanks to the successive path of the sun over one and the other part of the hemisphere half the human race is always awake to attend to prayer. One of the most potent prayers is the Sign of the Cross.

In the Old Testament, for the sacrifices, the priest first raised the victim, and then he moved it along from east to west. This movement formed the figure of the Cross. The High priest, and all other simple priest, blessed the people after the sacrifice doing the same movements. At the time of Ezekiel, when the abominations of Jerusalem were at its peak, a mysterious person received the order to cross the city and mark with the sign T the foreheads of those who cried for the iniquities of that guilty city. All those who were marked with the Sign of Salvation were spared from death. Tertullian and Jerome say: “TheTau Sign, marked on the foreheads of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who cried for the crimes of that city, protected them against the exterminating angels. TheSign of the Crosson the forehead is an assurance that those who are marked will not be the victims of the devil.” The Philistines had reduced the Israelites to the most humiliating servitude. Samson begins to free them. Unfortunately, the strong one of Israel let himself be surprised, and was chained and blinded. Meanwhile, Samson, meditating on how to take revenge, plans to kill thousands of his enemies in one blow. Providence disposed that he would accomplish his plan making the Sign of the Cross. “Standing in between the two columns that held the building,” says St. Augustine, “the strong one of Israel extends his arms in the form of a Cross. In such an omnipotent attitude, he pushes against the columns, makes them tremble, and destroys his enemies.”

From there and many other examples in the Bible we can see that to pray with the arms extended, forming the Sign of the Cross, has been known from the most remote times of antiquity; and its mysterious omnipotence has been experienced. In a certain sense then, the Sign of the Cross would say what the Savior Himself said: “All power has been given to Me in the Heavens and on the earth.” Heaven itself is disposed in the form of theSign of the Cross:What do the four cardinal points represent if not the four lines of the cross and the universality of its virtue.

We are soldiers, and the Sign of the Cross is a weapon against the enemy. More than three (3) thousand years ago, Job defined human life as a continuous battle. Centuries have gone by and the definition has remained the same. Life is a battle for you, for me, for your peers, for the rich as well as for the poor. It’s a battle that begins at the cradle and it does not end but at the grave! Such my dear friend is the condition of man, and we can’t do anything to change that. And who are man’s enemy, yours, and mine? Eh! We all know them, not only by their name, but also by their attacks: The devil, the world, and the flesh! Three (3) powers conspiring to bring us to ruin!

Demons are fallen angels. Their intellect, strength, agility, etc., are superior to ours; their number is incalculable. Jealous that the children of Adam were called to eternal happiness, which they had lost, their only aim and occupation is our destruction, increasing or passions, creating dangerous situations, darkening in us the gift of faith, destroying our moral sense, suffocating our remorse, making us accomplices of their rebellion in order to make us their companions in Hell!!! So, as sure as our battles, and man being in so weak a condition, could it be conceivable that Divine Wisdom would not give us a way to defend ourselves? On the contrary, in order to help us in our battles, God has given to man a powerful and universal weapon that is always at the reach of everyone. What could this weapon be???

Let us question every century, above all the Christian centuries. They respond with a unanimous voice that this weapon is the Sign of the Cross! This weapon had been used by the most learned and holy men in the East as well as in the West. St. John Chrysostom says: “Do not ever go out of your house without making theSign of the Cross. It will be for you a shield, a weapon, an inexpugnable tower. Neither man nor demon will ever dare to attack you, if they see you clothed with this armor.”Origen says: “TheSign of the Crossis the invisible armor of Christians. Soldier of Christ that you are, wear (use) This Armor always during the day, and during the night, and everywhere. Without It do not undertake any task, whether it be sleeping or traveling, resting or working, eating or drinking, be always clothed withThis Protective Armor. Adorn and protect every single one of your members with This Victorious Sign. At the sight of This Sign the infernal powers flee scared and stupefied.” St. Augustine used to say to the Catechumens: “We must confront the enemy with the Symbol andSign of the Cross; so that the Christian vested with these weapons may easily triumph over the ancient and prideful tyrant.”St. Athanasius says: “By means of theSign of the Crossthe works of magic are made impotent; all the enchantments lose their efficacy. By means of It, the impetus of the most brutal will is moderated and pacified.”